Good Morning.
So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.” (Exodus 7:1-2)
That Moses was “as God to Pharaoh” indicated that God appointed him to be the Almighty’s personal and direct representative to Pharaoh. By giving the words to say, it was as if Pharaoh would be hearing from God personally. Aaron would stand in the position of spokesman or “prophet.”
The Hebrew word for prophet, navi, is much more than someone who predicts the future. Typically the word indicates someone who transmits God’s word to others and especially those who are not heeding it. Most often we see that God’s prophets were sent to warn people of the consequences if they refused to walk in obedience. That is where, in many cases, predicting the future comes in. In other words, the prophets told the people what would happen if they continued to disobey. If the people didn’t believe them and continued in their wickedness, the predicted consequences came to pass.
The main point, today, is this: an authentic prophet of God will always point God’s people back to His Word — that is the defining characteristic; not necessarily predicting future events. In fact, Moses warned Israel not to follow after everyone who considered themselves to be a prophet even if they predicted something and it came to pass. That was not to be the determining factor because those might be the very people who were leading the people astray.
If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods”—which you have not known — “and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)
Let us be attentive, discerning and careful in these very critical days. We need to hear from the true prophets of God so, as a people, we will know what to do. We can’t afford to be carried away by smooth and flattering words that soothe our flesh; we need to hear the Word that feeds our soul and challenges our heart. Make no doubt about it, God has prophets who are delivering His message to His people; let’s be certain that we have the ears to hear what He is saying through them.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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